The present invention relates to rail vehicles, and more particularly to a rail vehicle body.
It is conventional to build rail vehicles, and in particular the cars of train sets or xe2x80x9crakesxe2x80x9d, and more particularly to mass-produce them, by making an all-welded xe2x80x9croughxe2x80x9d, then fixing on insulation elements and cabling elements for transferring fluids (water, heating fluids and/or cooling fluids, and control fluids, in particular for automatic operations) and for conveying electricity, and finally installing interior fittings; building in this way gives rise to a manufacturing time that is lengthy and to tooling costs that are high.
In addition, connections between door uprights and windows give rise to dimensioning problems because they must be of excellent reliability in spite of fatigue due to the intense and repeated forces to which they are exposed. More particularly, connections made by welding are particularly sensitive to such forces.
An object of the invention is to remedy those drawbacks by reducing assembly time and tooling costs.
Another object of the invention is to create a rail vehicle bodywork structure that makes it possible to combine good aerodynamic characteristics, pleasing appearance, and reduced mass, facilitating the distribution of equipment if it is desired to make a rake with distributed motors.
To this end, the invention relates to a vehicle body, the body being of hybrid structure comprising a metal xe2x80x9cframe assemblyxe2x80x9d of aluminum or aluminum alloy, an aluminum or aluminum alloy xe2x80x9croof assemblyxe2x80x9d, and two xe2x80x9cfitted-out face assembliesxe2x80x9d of composite material each fixed both to the frame assembly and to the roof assembly.
Because face coverings are used as structural assembly elements of the bodywork, the vehicle can be prefabricated and building is simplified and made faster by integrating subassemblies that are already fitted out; it is also possible to include continuous glazing, thereby improving the appearance of the vehicle.
The body can also present one or more of the following characteristics:
the frame assembly comprise a floor and two side-sill panels extending from the floor towards the roof assembly in such a manner that the cross-section of the frame assembly is generally U-shaped;
each of the side-sill panels has a bottom margin at an obtuse angle connected to the floor;
the roof assembly comprises a roof panel presenting a central region and two side regions extending on either side of the central region, the side regions sloping towards the frame assembly and away from the central region;
each fitted-out face assembly has a face of composite material placed facing a side-sill panel of the frame assembly, a strip of composite material placed facing one of the side regions of the roof assembly, and uprights of composite material interconnecting the face and the strip;
the face of composite material extends at least in part into the inside of the frame assembly;
the strip of composite material extends at least in part inside the roof assembly;
the fitted-out face assemblies comprise respective faces of composite material each having an outwardly directed top flange facing a top edge of the frame assembly, said top flange being fixed to said edge by bolts;
the fitted-out face assemblies have strips each fixed to a corresponding side region of the roof assembly by bolts;
the fitted-out face assemblies have faces of composite material each including an inwardly directed bottom flange facing an angled bottom margin of a side-sill panel, said flange being fixed to said margin by bolts;
the fitted-out face assemblies include door frames;
the fitted-out face assemblies include seat supports;
the body includes glazing fixed to the fitted-out face assemblies;
it includes insulating panels between the side-sill panels belonging to the frame assembly and the faces belonging to the fitted-out face assemblies;
the frame assembly includes a floor comprising at least one multi-tube extrusion of aluminum for aluminum alloy;
the frame assembly includes a floor comprising cross-members made of aluminum or aluminum alloy;
the frame assembly includes side-sill panels comprising at least one multi-tube aluminum or aluminum alloy extrusion;
the roof assembly includes at least one multi-tube aluminum or aluminum alloy extrusion; and
the frame assembly and the roof assembly include multi-tube extrusions having cells extending therein and receiving nut-forming means for enabling the fitted-out face assemblies to be fixed by screw fastening.